‘Big Brother’ Hits Season Highs Thursday for CBS

It's easily the top original program; ABC's 'Wipeout' up from its low, 'Rookie Blue' dips

CBS’ “Big Brother” matched or set series highs in key categories Thursday as it towered over the night’s other original programming.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, the live eviction episode of “Big Brother” averaged a 2.5 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and 7 million viewers overall in the 9 o’clock hour — matching last week’s season-high demo rating while drawing the show’s largest overall audience for any night this summer. The Thursday edition of “Big Brother” benefits from airing later in the evening than the other two nights and also had its typically good lead-in support from 8 o’clock comedy repeats “The Big Bang Theory” (2.1/8 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall) and “Two and a Half Men” (1.7/6 in 18-49, 6.5 million viewers overall).

Elsewhere, ABC’s “Wipeout” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) was up two tenths from its low of last week, and 9 p.m. drama “Motive” held steady (0.8/3 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall). Closing out the night was original drama “Rookie Blue” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall), which was down slightly from last week and edged out a repeat of CBS’ “Elementary” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall).

At NBC, a repeat of “America’s Got Talent” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall) was followed by singing competition “The Winner Is…” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall), flat week to week, and “Hollywood Game Night” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall), which again built on its lead-in and beat out dramas on ABC and CBS in 18-49.